This is one of those TV series that has "quality" written all over it. I remember immediately being hooked on as a kid from the moment I saw the intro for the first time. This intro on itself is a nice example of how well this series was conceived. It starts out with a spectacular descent from outer space towards the ruin of a Maya temple and further down to the core of Earth, accompanied by a voice which tells of an amazing mystery. Then the catchy theme song starts, while we get a preview of the main characters and some key elements of the story, some of which would only appear after a dozen episodes.
In short, this animated series has excellent animation, excellent voice acting, an excellent musical score, and an excellent story based on a historical setting but with lots of fantasy elements that will stir the interest of any child. I had probably never developed the same interest in history if I hadn't watched this series. Moreover, every episode was originally accompanied by a short documentary which connected some of the (semi-)fictional events or sites in the story to real-world counterparts. Unfortunately these documentaries were not aired in every country.
The series originated from a French-Japanese cooperation, a concept that would produce several other high-quality animated series around the same time period. It appears that the Japanese, French and English versions were produced by the same quality standards, because they all are top-notch. It's a shame that there currently is no official DVD release of the English version. The only way to get it, is to look for unofficial releases, reconstructed from the video stream of the official French release and audio tracks from old VCR recordings. Apparently it's unclear who owns the rights to the English master tapes. Although not widely known, this series is a monument in TV history and deserves a better treatment.
In short, this animated series has excellent animation, excellent voice acting, an excellent musical score, and an excellent story based on a historical setting but with lots of fantasy elements that will stir the interest of any child. I had probably never developed the same interest in history if I hadn't watched this series. Moreover, every episode was originally accompanied by a short documentary which connected some of the (semi-)fictional events or sites in the story to real-world counterparts. Unfortunately these documentaries were not aired in every country.
The series originated from a French-Japanese cooperation, a concept that would produce several other high-quality animated series around the same time period. It appears that the Japanese, French and English versions were produced by the same quality standards, because they all are top-notch. It's a shame that there currently is no official DVD release of the English version. The only way to get it, is to look for unofficial releases, reconstructed from the video stream of the official French release and audio tracks from old VCR recordings. Apparently it's unclear who owns the rights to the English master tapes. Although not widely known, this series is a monument in TV history and deserves a better treatment.